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10 Things You Might Not Know About THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK

First Geek Dave unearths 10 bits of trivia from The Lost World: Jurassic Park, then later there's running and screaming...

1. After filming Jurassic Park and Schindler's List so close back to back Steven Spielberg took a break from directing, and in fact only intended to produce The Lost World: Jurassic Park. As pre-production began Joe Johnston was the man who looked to be sitting in the director's chair, but scheduling problems with his work on Jumanji stopped him taking the job. Spielberg came out of his 4 year directing hiatus but promised Johnston that if a third movie was made then it would be his, which indeed it was.

2. In the original Michael Crichton novel of Jurassic Park both John Hammond and
Ian Malcolm died. When it came to writing the sequel Crichton was keen to bring Malcolm back, so a retcon was worked into the book when Malcolm explains that "the doctors did excellent work". In the film version Spielberg had the sense not to kill off either Richard Attenborough or Jeff Goldblum so both could return in any sequel.

3. Whilst casting the movie Steven Spielberg had to attend an early screening for the 1996 comedy Swingers, as approval had been asked for the use of the Jaws theme tune.
Whilst watching the screening Spielberg was so impressed by Vince Vaughn that he offered him a part in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. (I could joke that this was the last time that anyone was impressed with Vince Vaughn, but I do have a soft spot for Dodgeball.)

4. Script Writer David Koepp revealed that when he was writing The Lost World: Jurassic Park he kept a fan
letter next to his computer screen which complained that he'd "waited too long" to show the dinosaurs in the first movie. Koepp made sure we saw the dinosaurs sooner and added over 50% more dino-action than the 1993 original.

5. Koepp has a small role in the film. He plays the part of 'Unlucky Bastard' (above), you can spot him next to the San Diego Blockbuster video store just before being eaten by a T-Rex.

6. Inside that Blockbuster video store you likely spotted a poster advertising a movie version of King Lear starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger. This was included as a reference to
the scene where Schwarzenegger plays Hamlet in the movie Last Action Hero - in 1993 that film was released against Jurassic Park, guess which one totally overshadowed the other?

7. Many scenes that were featured in the sequel were actually taken from the original Jurassic Park novel. These include the scene where the T-Rex sticks its tongue through a waterfall to lick characters
on the other side, and the scene when Peter Stormare's character is eaten
by the Compies after being chased by them - this is the way John Hammond was killed
in the original novel.

8. The Lost World: Jurassic Park includes some references to other 'monster' movies. One of the ships at the San Diego docks is called 'The Venture', this is the same name
as the ship that brought the King Kong to New York in the 1933 movie, and when the Japanese tourists are running from the rampaging T-Rex one of them says (in Japanese of course) "I left Japan to get away from this!" - a clear reference to the Godzilla movies.

9. During The Lost World: Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg has probably the most subtle cameo in a movie ever. Take a look at the picture above, see him? No he's not on the deck of that ship transporting Dino's to the mainland, in fact he's actually watching this supposed CNN TV broadcast. If you look really closely at the TV screen reflection on the side of the ship you can just about make him out. He's sat with Jeff Goldblum, and they're eating popcorn.

10. Early drafts of the final act of The Lost World: Jurassic Park originally featured Pteranodon's flying off the island and attacking the rescue helicopter, this was instead of the T-Rex attack on San Diego. Spielberg felt the movie needed a bigger climax and so the last section was completely re-written. The same Pteranodon idea would return in early drafts of Jurassic Park III, this time it was only slightly changed, instead of ending the movie with an attack they fly off peacefully to find their place in the world.

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